Q Robert, what do you say to Bob Dole, who’s got this op-ed today, saying he thinks the President sort of needs to refresh the health care debate, and specifically, needs to put a plan on the table?

MR. GIBBS: Well, I think the President has outlined a series of proposals and principles that he thinks ought to be included in health care. And we’ll continue to see if we can make progress as it relates to that.

Q Right, but on the specific plan aspect, Dole is saying that the President is not a commentator, he’s the President of the United States, and shouldn’t just be commenting on what Congress is doing. Shouldn’t he — in the estimation of Dole and others who have said this in Congress — maybe a more active role?

MR. GIBBS: Well, he’s talked with many members of the Finance Committee and members of Congress in the House and the Senate. I think to characterize the role that the President is playing as inactive would be inaccurate.

Q Okay. Well, he doesn’t seem to be active on health care right now. Is he — I mean, he’s going to go on to Camp David —

MR. GIBBS: You mean, like, right now?

Q Well, he’s golfing right now, I guess so —

MR. GIBBS: If he hits Marvin with a golf ball, I guess he’d become more active in health care. (Laughter.)

Q Okay. What’s the calculation then, since he’s golfing, he just came back from vacation, he’s going to Camp David for more vacation — when is he going to get back into this debate?

MR. GIBBS: Well, again, Ed, the President did some meetings today that included discussions on health care. I assume he’ll continue to make calls throughout the week, judging and assessing where we are. I don’t — I think that just because the President just might be doing something else doesn’t mean he’s not focused on health care reform.

TAPPER: A couple of questions, Robert. One, just teeing off of Ed’s* question about health care, have you guys seen this fundraising letter from Senator Chuck Grassleyin which he goes after — “The simple truth is that I am and always have been opposed to the Obama administration’s plans to nationalize health care … I’m deeply concerned about rising health care costs … but the reality is…” — it just goes after President Obama and Democrats’ effort on health care reform.

GIBBS: I have not seen it.

TAPPER: It would seem to belie any indication that Senator Grassley is actually a partner with the administration or with Senator Baucus in creating the plan that you guys would support. Are you still firmly committed to working with the three Republicans who are still in the negotiating phase?

GIBBS: I’ll say this, Jake. The President is firmly committed to working with Democrats, Republicans, independents, anybody that wants to see progress on health care reform. I will say this. I haven’t seen the contents of that letter. Certainly, I think the radio address over the weekend by Senator Enzi repeating many of the generic Republican talking points that Republicans are using that have bragged about being opposed to health care are tremendously unfortunate but in some ways illuminating. It appears that at least in Senator Enzi’s case, he doesn’t believe there’s a pathway to get bipartisan support, and the President thinks that’s wrong. I think that Senator Enzi has clearly turned over his cards on bipartisanship, and decided that it’s time to walk away from the table. I think what somebody has to ask Senator Enzi and ask others, every member of Congress, is, are you satisfied with the way the system is working right now? Are you satisfied that premiums are doubling every nine years? Are you satisfied that out-of-pocket expenses are skyrocketing? Are you satisfied that small businesses are dropping their coverage? Are you satisfied that every day 14,000 Americans wake up and find themselves without health insurance coverage? I think many may believe that we can’t afford to do anything. I think this President believes we can’t afford not to.

TAPPER: Well, let me ask you, are you satisfied with the ability that the White House has shown in getting that message out, as opposed to what the opponents of health care reform are saying? Have you guys been doing –

GIBBS: Notwithstanding Ed’s question about what the President is doing right now.

TAPPER: Do you think — I mean, we’ve all now — the congressional recess has been going on and some of us have left Washington, D.C. Do you think you’re doing a good job in getting the message out as to what health care reform should be?

GIBBS: I think we looked at and we discussed when we last met in here — I think the President has made progress on turning around some of the very specific yet untrue allegations about this bill. It doesn’t help — I’ll give you, Jake, it doesn’t help to have Republicans who say they’re for bipartisanship and say they’re at the table to try to find a solution repeating Republican Party talking points about what they know is not true in the bill. I don’t think that’s helpful and I think that it’s unfortunate — again, it’s tremendously unfortunate that it looks like Republicans are stepping away from seeking a bipartisan solution. I think that’s — it’s bad for this town, but it’s much worse for this country.

Life is just so tough. It’s UNFAIR! Maybe next year a companion dog. Or two cats. Maybe a small rabbit hutch next to the Victory Garden… Anything for greasy photo ops. Maybe they could start keeping Mrs O out of $540.00 Lanvin sneakers. Esp at soup kitchens… You think? (‘Cuz the economy is going to limp along, shoeless.)

Just for fun, right before the Ed Henry question, this was asked at the gaggle:

Q Let me ask you on another matter — the Jerusalem Post conducted a survey and found that only 4 percent of Jewish Israelis consider President Obama to be pro-Israeli. Does that trouble you in any way?

MR. GIBBS: I haven’t seen the poll.

Passive. Or laughter. Or outright dismissal. Please fellas, push the envelope. Maybe a Czar of Envelope Pushing? What ever is good for the country!

Speaking of the Vatican… just saw this at Sullification.. (he’s still on Cape Cod, but religion rolls on there)

A Vatican Double Standard?, Ctd

by Chris Bodenner

A reader writes:

If Ted and Vicki’s marriage was “blessed”, it means the marriage was convalidated. Convalidation is when the Church recognizes the marriage. For that to occur, annulments would have to have occurred.

Another digs deeper:

I did a little Lexis-Nexis searching and can report that it’s a matter of public record that Victoria Reggie sought and received an annulment to her first marriage sometime prior to marrying Senator Kennedy. However, while the couple married in a civil ceremony before the Senator’s first marriage was annulled, by Jan. 1995 it was subsequently annulled, and his marriage to Reggie was blessed by the Church.

Welp.
Teddy purchased the Special Sprinklies wit da Winkies
for the Till Death Do Us Part bit of the Wedding Cake.
And Evidently, the Catholic Church allowed transfer of the Fatal Lamination Credit to Mary Jo Kopeckne.

So Ted died in the Good Graces of the Church tho the deceased of the Catonsville 9 did not.

“We confront the Roman Catholic Church, other Christian bodies, and the synagogues of America with their silence and cowardice in the face of our country’s crimes. We are convinced that the religious bureaucracy in this country is racist, is an accomplice in this war, and is hostile to the poor.”

All religion is shit in my view, but you can not get to a rational society challenging religion in general. ?Why? being the next obvious question…I think it is too scattershot , the built in sectarian exceptionalism too great. I also think it is not enough for intramural critics still within a given creed to make he case. Nor do I see significant traction – not significant enough surely – coming from organizing along strictly agnostic, secular or atheistic fronts…Nor do I think it viable for a critic associated as a demographic minority to make the case either. Thuis the American Muslim Community at present is a non starter…It sets in play a most unseemly and admittedly dangerous political situation. Wherein, in the case of Catholics for instance, criticism is best coming from well positioned groups with a legitimate axe to grind with Catholicism( LOL which is everybody!)and a countervailing political base to impose legal, political, and economic sanction on Catholic Institutions and their apologists. . It is true the abuse was reported by individuals, but for naught until outrage is expressed by the extramural community, those with juice, their own power base and a willingness to play to it in Society, a plural society, Society as A Whole. In this country it means opposition, outrage and disgust coming from Protestants and Jews. Secular Catholics, an oxymoron if there ever was one, in my view means nothing by definition…The same applies to other groups or allainces of convenience among groups seeking to cart off the public forum to their exceptionally Holy Places…It does present a perilous paradox, but one long overdue for provocation. I am not blind to it’s problems ..
One , obviously is that rational underpinnings are not to be assumed where religious and ethnic sensibilities supercede any notion of socioeconomic class or common humanity…Secondly even if rational secularism is thought to be healthy enough to prevail , Unfortunately asymetrical deployment of resources power and influence by any sufficiently determined, equipped and cohesive group is enough to fuck up equality for all…Nonetheless I think the exceptionalism must be challenged in this counter intuitive manner as the Sectarians are thoroughly in corporate conglom with the MIC. They are, in every sense of transitive definition, the MIC. The only place where an Omnipotent Trinity has ever been revealed, one of UnHoly Hellfire at that…

It is for these reasons that I think fracture points must be exposed in light of countervailing religious, ethnic, and socio-economic prerogatives, for with out doing so, neither self preservation nor plurality will prevail. And it truly is fraught with peril either way. But we see where the gloss of faux egalitarianism has gotten us all…Thus, and this is not without trepidation, that I think The ties must be broken down piece by adversarial piece in the present case, if genuinely humane and durable links are to emerge, if ever, in the latter…I cannot say I am optimistic, as such thinking is the very soil in which Third Way , and Third Reich cons, alike, take hold…

I read the other day that one thing achieved when France finally fully separated State from Catholic Church… suddenly divorced women could be buried in the light of day. In secular non religious burial grounds… Previously the Church had denied them “hallowed ground”. Hmm there was no mention of “divorced men”.

How very Big of them. I just looked it up, had to ,
I must have been busy flirting with Francine Chiot de l’amour. LOL.
Anywaays,
Yep that pissed off Pius the TENTH
but ya have to figure…
how Pius could the dude be if they didn’t score on the previous nine tries? Ya know…

Sacrebleu! They cut off the money!

Speaking of the Third Republic, I want to re read Shirer’s Collapse Third Republic , dug out a paperback that was in tatters…

The shorthand from wiki is a serviceable reminder …

In 1939-1940, the Republic of France faced a united, determined, and technologically sophisticated enemy. It was desperately important for them to match these traits with determination and unity of their own. Instead, French national leaders frittered away their final months before the catastrophe in a round of internal hostility, intrigue, and backbiting leading to the restoration of WWI hero Marshal Pétain as Premier.

The French media had become thoroughly corrupt. Newspapers, in particular, were bought-and-paid-for mouthpieces of power factionalism.

Yes I remember it well…but I need to pick up a copy to re-read alongside Diamond’s Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

What’s scary is that 90% of this country doesn’t even have a Cliff Notes understanding of the Vichy and what they enabled..Under the most perverse Up is Down, Forward is Back , War is Peace rationale.( I am aware the same can easily be said _ too easily- be said of the paradox of divisive agitation I contend above) To wit , 99% of Catholics would happily forget the Concordat….And fewer still understand that this uneasy truce between the alliance of Hegemonists Victors now has spawned a new Denialist Creed, bizzare , its reality shielded by corporate propoganda, yet unmistakenly a Fascist symbiosis serving..- if it is possible to imagine (given the long, sordid, and hardly interrupted , caused, or, for that matter~ effected by World Wars ) …this SNUFF of the seekers with their searchlights misnomed as Beacons of Hope… towards EVEN MORE oppressive and destructive ends imagineable.

It took Hitler Twenty Years. The WSJ is talking Cheney in 012.
Gotta Love it. The real deal IMO, is Barry transferred to Columbia and went to Harvard as a Langley Scholar. And Yes. 9/11 was an Inside Job.

Yes. Amidst their own overreach, Viet Nam, Suez, Algieria….
DeGaulle had a very sober assessment of the World …. of US.
“The Americans aren’t here to help”.
We were parasites and frankly… ( How apropos Frankly!) we were Johnny Come Latelys in the War…Our so called LEFT took a powder.
That classic American demi-“Left” Slow Bleed Strategy…I saw that post in the Lasat thread the same M.O. alive and well vis a vis NOLA and Axelrod and WH slowalking relief to train Jindahl…SOS.

Mollet was a shit and they were smart to rid themselves of that expeditionary lapdog. My understanding is that DeGaulle was the only person who had the stature and credibility to pull it off. or more precisely, pull them back from their own imperialist impulses following the War..They were smart to keep us at a distance that’s for sure…

In similar news I saw a blip on HuffPo linking the WSJ touting a Cheney Restoration in ‘012. ~ Cheney. Dick Cheney.
Unfuckinbelieveable, if history weren’t a guide.

It won’t be Cheney but it will be Cheney-lite.

Follows along with the title of this thread: Passive.

The Repubs are again busy demonizing the Dems. The last time around it was scary “liberals”. Now they’re “socialists” harkening back to Hitler. And, as the WH has shown, all it has to offer is a pat on the head and a “now, now” instead of actually fighting back with anything nearing resolve.

Nonetheless I think the exceptionalism must be challenged in this counter intuitive manner as the Sectarians are thoroughly in corporate conglom with the MIC. They are, in every sense of transitive definition, the MIC. The only place where an Omnipotent Trinity has ever been revealed, one of UnHoly Hellfire at that…

ya know…. I read Ann Althouse.. nto because I agree with her (almost never do) but because I htink she is like a lot of people… not stupid by any means but quite authoritarian. her threads after Tiller were killed were horrific…

BUT, she had a very sane post up about … how come!?? we are not allowed to ask about religion, as the SCOTUS adds a 6th – out of nine – Cattolica.

She’s right. Oooops.. freedom OF religion rears its nasty snake head!. Sadly there is no fucking FREEDOM FROM RELIGION. None.

I noticed the Hasbara boy of DK, “Democratic Putz” is all het up about –
LOL Fire Dog Lake’s crew of Astroturfers and their poking into “Lobbyists Skeletons”..of Dems…
mugs game, shill on shill combat…but clearly a slapdown to not go after Berman, Waxman, Schakowsky, Harmen, etc…

Now there are plenty of drunkren Irish louts on the list , but I noted Bob Brady is there. He was the guy a wrote about, the slob making the rounds with Arlens checks to the Cops in Philly and the Burbs, etc… Rendell Specter Pawn, Brady was the Philly Chair who endorsed Specter when Arlen was GOP. Now the fuck who makes me sound articulate is Chair of House Administration, Bob Neys old seat and has control of all House Staff Salaries… Gotta Gotta fuckin love it. But fundamentally he’s a fuckin pawn. Thoroughly owned…The thing about the Ted Kennedy and his motilus Patrick, or a guy like Rangel, varing degrees along the Owner/ owned / servant spectra and are insulated quite well in their seats, definitely the case of Kennedy the Elder and Charlie in Harlem…Biut I’ve actually slid them more to the servant category ..in Dead Teds case clearly he didn’t have the juice to get CKS in, and in Rangels he is unable to mobilize the kind of defense or dispatch the charges against him. Not that they should have the ability to do so Kenedy and Rangel should have been cellmates long ago…but the disparity is astounding considering Harmans treason. That flat out got a pass.

So Back to Hasbara Bboy in defense of the Good Dem Caucus and poking into who gives what to whom, this is what ensued among the Orange Bloggers United for Transparency and Enlightenment…

understand why we should be targeting these representatives either. They have already co-sponsored the bill. Why should we pillory or harass them simply because they haven’t vowed to sign the letter to Pelosi? I think this particular tactic is misguided.

Does anyone seriously believe that Sheila Jackson-Lee would vote against real healthcare reform, just because she hasn’t signed a letter?

And Ted Kennedy’s son, do they actually think he might vote against something his father battled for right up to his death? Seriously?

For me the PO is non-negotiable, and I love Firedog Lake, but I don’t think this is a terribly good strategy.

I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. I go for anything new that might improve the past. ~ Clara Barton

by AuroraDawn on Mon Aug 31, 2009 at 07:07:01 PM PDT

[ Parent ]

*because sometimes it’s easy for a Democratic (31+ / 0-)

member in a safe district to take a popular bill, and say they support it, but when the House bill in the conference committee gets its most progressive elements stripped out in favor of the Senate bill, that Democratic Member will still vote for the final bill, and claim he or she did everything they could to pass a bill with the public option.

They’ll point to their vote on the House bill as “proof” of their progressive creds, and be okay with taking a vote on a mandated bailout of the junk insurance industry without a public option in the final bill.

I work full-time with the FDL team on health reform thanks to your donations.

by slinkerwinkon Mon Aug 31, 2009 at 07:18:20 PM PDT

[ Parent ]
o I appreciate all of the hard work you’ve done… (50+ / 0-)

Your diaries have been extremely helpful and informative, but I can’t get behind this.

While I will continue to call members of Congress and the Senate, urging them to support a public option, I’m not going to call Patrick Kennedy or Sheila Jackson-Lee sellouts. That’s just one bridge too far for me. They co-sponsored the bill, I have no reason to believe they – and the others named – won’t do their utmost to ensure that the PO isn’t stripped out of the final bill.

If they say something in coming days to indicate that they will vote for a bill without a public option, then we can call them sellouts. Right now, it seems unfair to label them as such, and this strategy is only likely to anger men and women who should be our allies in this fight.

I think it might be wiser to call them and thank them for co-sponsoring the bill, and after thanking them, ask that they please fight to prevent the PO from being stripped out of the final legislation, and to vote against any bill that doesn’t include a PO.

I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. I go for anything new that might improve the past. ~ Clara Barton

by AuroraDawn on Mon Aug 31, 2009 at 07:35:59 PM PDT

[ Parent ]
+There’s nothong wrong with finding out. (7+ / 0-)

No one is asking you to “label” anyone a sell-out. FDL is asking for research.

Each day, she’ll be choosing 5 of these members and asking people to crowd source research their backgrounds. She’ll be looking into their history of campaign donations from health care industry stakeholders who made deals with the Baucus Caucus. The revolving doors of their staff members turned lobbyists. Their parties. Their fundraisers. Their voting records. Their committee votes. The amendments they’ve offered. The way they’ve weakened bills they pretend to support.

Why do you think there is something wrong with finding these things out?

“If we don’t fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don’t really stand for them.” ~Senator Paul Wellstone

by Campfire30 on Mon Aug 31, 2009 at 08:56:56 PM PDT

[ Parent ]
#
Based on the comments I’ve read… (10+ / 0-)

I wasn’t the only one who misinterpreted both the title of their contest and subsequent comments made by Jane. When you ask who is the “worst sellout” or biggest sellout, generally, that would mean you consider everyone named to be sellouts, but wish to identify the worst offender. That is what I initially though they meant.

I have no problem with them doing research. I do think perhaps it was a mistake to use the term sellout in the title.

I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. I go for anything new that might improve the past. ~ Clara Barton

by AuroraDawn on Mon Aug 31, 2009 at 09:32:13 PM PDT

[ Parent ]
* Which is why I’ll be changing that rhetoric (16+ / 0-)

tomorrow.

I work full-time with the FDL team on health reform thanks to your donations.

by slinkerwink on Mon Aug 31, 2009 at 09:38:24 PM PDT

It’s get the bud nippers out. Stop the Research. And God Forbid they use the web as a “Group Research” Tool. Cause as soon as the do, people will figure out who owns who.

WASHINGTON — ,b>The prospect that U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal may ask for as many as 45,000 additional American troops in Afghanistan is fueling growing tension within President Barack Obama’s administration over the U.S. commitment to the war there.

On Monday, McChrystal sent his assessment of the situation in Afghanistan to the Pentagon, the U.S. Central Command, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and NATO. Although the assessment didn’t include any request for more troops, senior military officials said they expect McChrystal later in September to seek between 21,000 and 45,000 more troops. There currently are 62,000 American troops in Afghanistan. . . .

It is an odd situation to say the least: David Brooks, prominent conservative, has become the most visible journalistic ally of arguably the most liberal president of his lifetime.

Is contradicted by this just a few paragraphs later:

He recognizes something similar in the current president. “Obama sees himself as a Burkean,” Brooks says. “He sees his view of the world as a view that understands complexity and the organic nature of change.” Moreover, after the Bush years, Brooks seems relieved to have an intellectual in the White House again. “I divide people into people who talk like us and who don’t talk like us,” he explains. “Of recent presidents, Clinton could sort of talk like us, but Obama is definitely–you could see him as a New Republic writer. He can do the jurisprudence, he can do the political philosophy, and he can do the politics. I think he’s more talented than anyone in my lifetime.

Obama isn’t a liberal. He’s a conservative. I don’t understand how they can keep insisting the stupid fake branding while spending the rest of their empty-minded pieces showing why the branding is bullshit.

The Italian toilet paper conspiracy theory rears its ugly head once again. ;)

I visited a very close family friend in Italy (29+ / 0-)

after he had undergone a triple bypass. He’s Italian, covered under the public health system, and was recovering in a hospital in southern Italy. The hospital was clearly droopier than many American hospitals, but his surgeon was excellent, the surgery went very well, he did not have to wait months and months for this surgery, and he was able to stay in the hospital to recover as long as he needed to. In fact, he was begging them to let him go home but they kept him for observation for a week. The one thing I did find funny is that all of the patients had to bring their own toilet paper because none was supplied in the hospital. The wife of the man who had surgery – also a very good friend – commented that she bet that in America they gave you toilet paper. I said that yes, they give you toilet paper in American hospitals, it’s the surgery they don’t give you if you’re not covered. And I would accept bringing my own toilet paper to a hospital any day if it meant that everyone could have access to the kind of care my friend got.

This is obviously targetting Italy,
a disturbing assault on the very Throne of the Papacy.. With
That ages old Anti Catholic Toity Smear.
Or Catholic Anti Toity Smear.
A very messy piece of business indeed. Once Again, rearing
its….rearing its… its …welll ~ something in the Rearing Realm. LOL.

I am guessing the pope fer sure has a toilet seat. Prolly made from the pulverised bones of young virgins*. Then finished with a hard glaze made from the blood of young virgins. THose who have seen it say the color is exquisite.

Being from a Latin country (and having lived in lots of them) toilet paper is a big issue. I recall getting a supply of 100 rolls of toilet paper via the University I taught at. Not wanting to appear as a capitalist speculator (The University was a hotbed lefties) I just left them in my office for people to take as needed. Had lots of friends…

Though this wasn’t in Brazil, which also has, or had, its share of toilet paper problems, this reminds me of the saying in portuguese “Uma mão se lava com a outra” One hand washes with the other… Um .. or washes the “other”

I remember being in Brindisi in Southern italy… waiting for the ferry to Corfu… we stopped in at the ladies room in the train station. big old fashioned stalls and a matron of rather ominous proportions. when you headed for the stall you were handed, not a roll, but a length of tissue. Fortunately we traveled with masses of kleenex. I have some weird memory that she also screwed in a lightbulb and turned a light on… but I might have conjured that up.

yes tissue was an issue. For a long time I had an old glove box filled iwht strange and extraordinary tp collected from various places. In the London airport… ti was stamped “Property of the Crown” iirc.

“I’m not going to put a date on any of this,” Axelrod said. “But I think it’s fairly obvious that we’re not in the second inning. We’re not in the fourth inning. We’re in the eighth or ninth inning here, and so there’s not a lot of time to waste.”

More lillies. it’s a classic point at which a pretzel has to take charge (tired threadbare phrase that it is). I doubt Obster would even know how. Remember his big battle was……………………… Pastor Wright. :lol:

“We’re entering a new season,” senior adviser David Axelrod said in a telephone interview. “It’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done. We’re confident that we can do that. But obviously it is a different phase. We’re going to approach it in a different way. The president is going to be very active.”

Obama is considering detailing his health care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess.

President Barack Obama, who has been criticized for being too vague about his demands for a new health-care law, will spell out his requirements in a speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from recess, aides tell POLITICO.

LOL is right! I just googled up bidet seat
figuring This is America™ some yutz has to be out there peddling one and there it was. 5 seconds to find it from the convenience of home. LOL.

But ya know where this is all going , don’cha?
The bastards are going to come out with a Big Brother Model before long and make That Stupid Piece of Shit that Doesn’t Work Right OBSOLETE .

Ya can never be to safe ya know… I mean…
What if the Trrrsts strike when your in the loo?

I don’t know about you but I want that extra level of peace of mind knowing I’m ensconced on a Command Module with state of the art interactive communications AND sanitary capabilities. I figure if I just piss myself right there during Armegeddon…what’s to worry? And with the Rapture-Ready upgrade, I figure I’m good…

Of course THAT’s if you make it to the throne on time.
Which is why I think the Real future in the
Holy Fuck! _We’re All Gonna DIE!_ But I’d Like to Be Fresh!…market..is in a full Designer Home line of similarly equipped furniture and sportswear. LOL.

Do you know how you’re beloved pets will survive financially when you’re raptured up (or ruptured down or both)… See elsewhere on this blog where post-rapture pet care services are offered by atheists and other infidels.

So.

At the age of 86, Noam Chomsky remains as active as ever in his work as a world-renowned political dissident and pioneering linguist. He has also opened a new chapter in his life, recently celebrating a one-year anniversary with his new wife, Valeria Wasserman Chomsky, his second marriage. Chomsky discusses the joys of newfound love and why it is a "pri […]

Noam Chomsky weighs in on the Black Lives Matter movement across the United States, calling it a response to the unresolved consequences of slavery and racism dating back hundreds of years. "[Slavery] is a large part of the basis for our wealth and privilege," Chomsky says. "Is there a slave museum in the United States? The first one is just b […]

Following its election in January on a pledge to confront the austerity program that's decimated Greece's economy, the Syriza government has faced a major pushback from international creditors led by Germany. Days after Greece secured a four-month extension to a loan package in exchange for new conditions on its spending, Noam Chomsky says the Euro […]

World-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky discusses why National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden should be welcomed back to the United States as a hero and why those who authorized the government surveillance he exposed should be on trial, not him. Chomsky also argues that while mass surveillance has been ineffective i […]

The Islamic State might be the best-funded radical Islamist group, perhaps in history, but the coalition air campaign that’s targeting its oil-refining operations and military assets has begun to damage…Click to Continue »

Britain has extradited a Vietnamese national to the United States to face charges that he aided and received military training in Yemen from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the Justice…Click to Continue »

At the annual American-Israel Public Affairs Committee conference, speakers advanced Iran as an existential threat and sought to downplay differences between Israel and the US while demonstrators were arrested outside

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the United States on Tuesday that it was negotiating a bad deal with Iran that paved the way to a "nuclear nightmare," drawing a rebuke from President Barack Obama and exposing the depth of a U.S.-Israeli rift.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives approved full fiscal-year funding for the U.S. domestic security agency on Tuesday, dealing a blow to conservative Republicans who had wanted the bill to include language blocking President Barack Obama's recent executive orders on immigration.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter testified on Tuesday that deep budget cuts could force the Pentagon to put on hold several key weapons development programs, including efforts to build a next-generation fighter and a more efficient aircraft engine.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday the chamber was moving toward debate on a bill that would require President Barack Obama to submit any final nuclear deal with Iran for Congress' approval.

Media

from Howl

I'm with you in Rockland
where we wake up electrified out of the coma
by our own souls' airplanes roaring over the
roof they've come to drop angelic bombs the
hospital illuminates itself imaginary walls collapse
O skinny legions run outside O starry
spangled shock of mercy the eternal war is
here O victory forget your underwear we're free
I'm with you in Rockland
in my dreams you walk dripping from a sea-
journey on the highway across America in tears
to the door of my cottage in the Western night

October 7 1955

"a remarkable collection of angelson one stage reading their poetry"
"I think Allen Ginsberg standing up there reading - putting himself on the line - was one of the two bravest things I've ever seen. Remember, it was '55. People had crew cuts, and they looked at you like you were misplaced cannon fodder. The country was being run by Luce publications. It was a dangerous, cold, ugly time, and it was scary. . .
In all our memories no one had been so outspoken in poetry before. We had gone beyond a point of no return. None of us wanted to go back to the grey, chill, militaristic silence, to the intellectual void - to the land without poetry - to the spiritual drabness. We wanted to make it new and we wanted to invent it and the process of it as we went into it. We wanted voice and we wanted vision."
-Michael McClure

Democrats…

Same as goddam fucking forever.
Over and over, in election year after election year, GE and MidTerms both… the Dems start to purr and preen, they stretch luxuriously - at just being TOLD they are going to win [...]
It never fails.
... in February of 2002, looking over the already joyless congressional stragglers willing to be drafted for duty… they barely dreamed, yet, it was even possible (Howard, a different person then, had not arrived to say it could be done)… but one thing was clear, we could not rely on the party to swing it. Could not. You could smell it, they would screw the deal. And I am not talking about Howard and primary issues here. By the end, that was a passing political story. Chuck it on the heap.
[...]
Upshot? The Republicans make it thru. They hold on.